Ramogapi plays it safe

He could have learnt a good lesson from the case of his Mahalapye-West counterpart, David Tshere whose constituents battered his ego by snubbing his area meeting to duly explain himself to the masses. Palapye legislator Onneetse Ramogapi will meet his constituents with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) president Duma Boko in tow for just in case there is trouble in Palapye. Mmegi Staffer RYDER GABATHUSE writes that Ramogapi will not leave anything to chance

Many factors have apparently been conniving against the UDC’s outspoken legislator. For a long time, Ramogapi has been a loner in the wider Palapye constituency now with an estimated population of about 53,000.

From the 2019 General Elections, the BCP under the UDC emerged with only two councillors out of a possible 10. The party’s two councillors would later join other parties abandoning Ramogapi to be without a single councillor to his party name. Morupule ward councillor Jordan Makhura joined the BDP whilst his brother George Makhura defected to the newly formed Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).

Ramogapi’s precarious position is besides the fact that at parliamentary level, the evergreen politician posted convincing results. In the 2019 General Elections, Ramogapi had garnered 5,580 votes followed by the BDP’s Moiseraele Goya with 5,252.

The BPF and the Alliance for Progressives trailed via 1,806 and 1,306 respectively. An independent candidate got a paltry 57 votes. Ramogapi is portrayed by the results as a man of the people.

Ramogapi is part of the quintet MPs that differed with their party leadership on how they should relate with the UDC, the party that their primary party, the BCP is a member. The BCP recently expelled MPs Kenny Kapinga, Tshere, Ramogapi, Dithapelo Keorapetse and Dr Never Tshabang from the party.

The BCP president Dumelang Saleshando and the party executives have been addressing constituents in the areas they have expelled MPs and it seems they have left a trail of destruction in their wake as daggers are apparently drawn against the suspended quintet.

They have set the MPs on a collision course with the constituents.

Troubled by the experience of his comrades in their respective areas, Ramogapi has roped in the UDC leader to help him face the hostile BCP members on September 10, 2022 in Palapye.

Is his action an act of cowardice? “Not really, what is important is that since we were expelled from the party we never had an opportunity to speak. We were initially suspended and quickly fired without hearing our side of the story. Now, it’s time to tell our own story,” explained Ramogapi in an interview this week.

In his view, Batswana have to make their own decisions in their favour or against them and of course from an informed position.

On September

10, Ramogapi accompanied by Boko and other UDC leaders, will address an indoor meeting and then a freedom square meeting. “We will have to produce evidence to the masses that voted us to Parliament.

The BCP has been accusing

Boko of being a dictator with a tendency to trample upon democracy and that he prefers unilateralism,” said Ramogapi. Ramogapi has resolved never to attack the BCP and its leadership, as that is not the reason why he is an MP. His focus, he said would be on regime change as that is the interest of the opposition parties. “I am going to clarify things at our meeting and those who will understand, they will. I am not going to repeat the matter thinking that people will believe me,” he added. The Palapye MP strongly believes in reconciliation and indicated that there is no one who can decline reconciliation, as it is a tool that ensures peace between parties. “We need reconciliation in all spheres of our lives. In politics, we need reconciliation the most. I am not going to decline it; anyone can extend a hand towards me,” he noted. His emphasis is that the party and the expelled quintet have to sit down and look at where it all went wrong.

“We have fought, differed and all that and now we need to sit down and plot the path of working smartly together anew. This should include the BCP and the UDC for the purpose of the bigger picture. We need to swallow our pride,” he said.

He further observed that the main issue is that the BCP leadership has been claiming that Ramogapi and Boko have said this and that at every turn, “now it’s our turn to respond and set the record straight.”

He is particularly worried about widespread rumours that Boko has registered the UDC constitution is his personal capacity, which he dismissed as false and misleading. He emphasised that inviting Boko to accompany him should not be misconstrued to suggest that he fears anyone or anything. “I fear nothing since I have taken my time to work the ground and I am ready to face the people as they are also willing to be part of the meeting that I have called,” explained the Palapye MP.

He is convinced that Batswana support the notion of opposition unity and they see the UDC as the only vehicle to regime change. At the moment, Ramogapi’s BCP membership is terminated when he was fired from the party. He still has BCP paraphernalia, which he has vowed to keep safely until the moment of reconciliation. It is apparent that the BPF poses a serious threat to Ramogapi, as it apparently wants to contest the Palapye parliamentary seat in the 2024 General Elections.

Answers Ramogapi: “There are ways and procedures on how we are going to work with the BPF. Those guidelines will be crafted in such a manner that it will benefit all. Whatever the UDC leadership comes up with, I will abide.”